Always
by orc-of-skyrim
Summary: What if Rick never found the walker child but instead found an alive and scared child. She has been abandoned by the only family she has left but what if they are still alive? Will they come find her or have they never been looking in the first place?
1. Found

"Little girl? I'm a policeman,"

There was a voice behind a Three-year-old girl. She turns around and Rick sees a dirty child with a small muddy puppy in her arms.

Rick startled the child and she fell on her butt and cried loudly. The puppy that is in her arms started to whine. Rick goes over to the child and as he reached for her, a walker tries to grab for him. He takes out his gun and shot the walker. The gunfire frightens the girl even more and she cries louder. Rick picks up the red-faced child and the puppy. She gets placed in the passenger seat of his squad car. Rick takes out a rag from his glove box and rubs off some of the mud and grime from the child. As he does so the child puts her hands in front of her face to make him stop but rick continues to get the dirt off her. " Sweetheart, I'm trying to clean you off," he said in a sweet and relaxing voice. "okay," she said quietly. She allowed him to get the dirt off her face. "Where are your parents?" he asked.

Her right hand opens and palm facing inward. Her left-hand lays open and flat to form a base with her palm facing the sky. She moves her hand forward while clenching her fist.

~All gone but Daddy~

"Your mute sometimes?" he asked.

"yes, just when I'm shy".

Rick starts up his cruiser and drives to Atlanta, Rick runs out of gas near a farmhouse. He gets his duffle bag of weapons out of the car and also a small backpack to carry the child and puppy in. He finds a horse and mounts it. They ride the rest of the way to Atlanta.

As he gets closer to the city rick hears the girl begin to cry.

"Hey, everything is ok sweetheart. You have nothing to worry about". Rick watched as her heterochromia eyes started to tear up.

It made Ricks' chest hurt to see her like this. " Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you," he said while giving her a reassuring smile. She nods and lays her head on his chest while holding her puppy.

In a deserted Atlanta, Rick is overwhelmed by hordes of walkers who topple his horse and force him and the child to retreat inside a tank. Guided an adventurous young man named Glenn who instructs him via radio to make a run for it, Rick grabs a gun and a grenade and flees for his life with the girl. Glenn then leads Them to a department store, where they meet up two more survivors, Jacqui and Andrea. Rick immediately has a gun pointed in his face by Andrea.

"You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you" She yelled.

Rick slowly backed away from her with a hand on the backpack the child is in. "Whats in the bag!" she yelled.

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off".

"Come on, ease up," said Jacqui.

"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole and he might have a fucking bomb in the bag!".

"Andrea, I said back the hell off".

"We're dead... All of us... Because of you" yelled Andrea.

"I don't understand," said rick.

"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral" said Morales.

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds.

Andrea: You just rang the dinner bell" T-dog said.

"Oh, God. What the hell were you doing out there anyway?".

Suddenly gunfire is heard and The girl screamed from the sound. Rick unzipped the bag fully to see her red face and tearing up eyes. " Great now we have another dinner bell!" yelled T-dog. The child began to look around and she stopped crying when her eyes landed on Andrea. She kept staring at Andrea but stopped when another fire ringed through the building. She covered her ears and snuggled closer to rick.

The group runs up to the roof. Roof Merle Dixon is shooting at several of the Walkers on the street below with a sniper rifle, killing some of them.

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!".

Dixon laughs and continues shooting.

"Oh jeez."

"Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense".

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" Yelled T-Dog. Merle continues laughing. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill".

Andrea Quickly covered The child's ears right as Merle started cussing up a storm. The child looks at Andrea and held out her arms. She slowly picked her up and the child put her head on her chest trying to ignore the yelling.

Merle and T-Dog start to fight. Merle is beating T-Dog to a pulp and then holds a pistol on him.

"No no no, please. Please" Said Andrea not too loudly to frighten the child.

"Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh? Come on. Let's see 'em. Oh, come on. All in favor? Yeah. That's good. Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?".

Rick hits Merle over the head with a pipe. He proceeds to handcuff Merle to a pipe. " Who the hell are you, man?!" yelled merle.

"Officer friendly. Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart" Said rick.

"Screw you, man".

"No thanks, I'm happily married".

A few minutes later rick and Andrea go downstairs to a shop. Andrea sits in a chair while holding the child. "She yours?" she asked. "No, I found her. Her family must have died but she says her father is alive".

Rick spots Andrea looking at some jewelry. He approaches her. Andrea looks at a mermaid necklace on the counter. "See something you like?".

"Not me, but I know someone who would... My sister. She's still such a kid in some ways. Unicorns, dragons... She's into all that stuff. But mermaids... They rule. She loves mermaids".

"Why not take it?".

"There's a cop staring at me. Rick chuckles. Andrea: Would it be considered looting?".

"I don't think those rules apply anymore. Do you?" said rick. Glass shatters and Walkers start walking in. Rick moves and is willing to shoot. Glenn and Morales join them. "What did you find?".

"Not a way out".

"Shit!" yelled rick.

They made their way back to the roof and looks below. As they do Glenn comes up with a plan but it's a stupid 50/50 chance of surviving kind of plan.

They left a few minutes ago and everything has been silent till the radio goes off. "Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street... Meet us there and be ready" said Glenn.

The group heads down towards the loading dock to make their escape. The Walkers break through the second set of doors and storm the store. Thanks to Glenn, Rick has the chance to pull in with his truck. Rick picks up Morales, Jacqui, Andrea, the child, and T-Dog. Morales quickly closes the gate of the truck and they all sigh in relief.

"Where's Glenn?" Asked Andrea. "He found his own ride," Replied Rick. Just after he said that a red sports car zooms past them. He is listening to music and screaming at the rush of driving down the road fast. "Whoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah-hoo-hoo!" Yells Glenn.


	2. Attack

As the group pulls up to a camp nearby Andrea gives the child back to rick and bolts out of the truck. "Come meet everybody. Hey, Babysitter! Come say hello". Rick gets out of the truck with the child. He sets her down with her puppy and takes grabs her hand. " The guy's a cop like you" Rick walks up Carol and Shane are the first to see him. Carl and Lori then turn overlook and he sees Rick. Rick also sees Carl and Lori. "oh, my god," said rick. Rick lets go of her hand and runs to Carl and Lori. Rick takes Carl in his arms, crying. He kisses Carl on the cheek and approaches Lori. towel hugs them both. Shane is surprised to see Rick but isn't as happy as he should be. Lori looks behind isn't and sees the little girl with the puppy in her arms. " Ricks, Who is this?" she asked walking past him. She crouches down in front of her and smiles. "I found her abandoned. No one was in the area but only a walker" Said, Lori reached for the child but the girl backed away slowly and held the puppy closer to her chest. "She is very shy and don't talk much, I got a few word out of her," said Rick. kneeling next to his wife. " what's your name honey?" asked an older woman behind Lori and Rick.

She comes over to her and crouches down next to rick. She smiles and the child smiles back and takes a few steps closer to her. " I'm carol".

" I'm Alex," The child said quietly.

"Nice to meet you, Alex," Carol said while smiling sweetly. Alex smiles back. "come here honey, I will get you cleaned up. Same with your cute puppy". Alex takes Carol's hand and follows her to the nearby lake. Before Carol goes to the lake she stops by her car and grabs one of her daughter's shirts.

Carol picks up Alex and the puppy. She takes them in the water and washes them both. Once she is done cleaning them she places Alex on the bank and takes off her wet dress then puts her daughter's shirt on her. Alex walks with her puppy in her arms back to camp with Carol. They get back and ricks son brings carol a towel to dry Alex off with. Once her hair is dry Carol puts the towel in a basket of dirty clothes.

It started getting dark so people started gathering firewood and building fire. Everyone gathered around the fire. Everyone sat around fires that were spread out and ate food. Alex sat in the shadow of the RV not wanting to disturb them as they talk among themselves. Carol began to look around as he just noticed the child isn't around rick or her. She sees the child by the RV shivering. Carol gets out of her chair and walks over to the child. Alex looks up and sees Carol walking to her. Alex gets up and walks to carol. She picks Alex up and brings her back to the fire. Alex gets set down between Ed and Carol. Alex looks over at Ed as he eats an MRE sandwiches. Ed looks over at Alex and she looks away. Alex looks at Carol. " do you have any food?" Alex asked kindly. Carol looks at Ed and he nods. Carol smiles at Ed and looks at Alex. "Of course. Follow me". Alex follows Carol to her car. She pulls the back door open and pulls out a crate full of MRE and drinks. " Choose what you want sweetheart".

Alex looks inside the crate and sees many packages of food that look good to her but she only grabs a Blueberry turnover, apple juice, and trail mix. Alex thanks, Carol and goes back up the hill by the camp fire. She sits down Next to Carol and Ed. She began to eat her food but she stops when her puppy wined while trying to crawl over to her. Ed gets up from his chair and gets the puppy then brings him back. He keeps the puppy in his lap and began to pet him. The dog Began to fall sleep while he gets pet.

After Dylan is done with her trail mix and turnover she opens her apple juice. Ed leans over to the wood pile and puts another log on his fire.

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" said Shane.

"It's cold, man".

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?".

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once" Replied Ed.

Shane gets up and walks over to Ed's fire.

"Hey, Ed… Are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?".

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out if you don't want it in. Go on!". Shane pulls the log out of the fire. Shane stomps the flames out. "Hey, Carol, how are y'all this evening?".

"Fine. I'm sorry about the fire".

"No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?".

"Thank you".

As the night goes on people started to go to their tent to sleep. Everyone went to bed except Ed, Carol and Alex. A few minutes pass and Ed puts out the fire. He takes Alex trash and throws it away then comes back to see her falling asleep while drinking her juice. Ed walks over to her and sets the juice of the forest floor. He picks her up and carries her to his and Carols tent. Once inside the tent, he lays her down in the middle of his and Carol's bed then covers her with his sleeping bag. He lays down next to her and falls sleep after he sees Carol crawl into the tent.

The next morning, Ed wakes up and sees that Carol and Alex are not in the tent. He walks out and sees that everyone is walking around doing chores or eating. Suddenly, the group hears screaming.

Everyone starts to race down to the screaming.

Alex comes running away from what she saw and bumped into Carol. She clung into Carol while balling her eyes out. Carol crouched down and asked, "Whats wrong?".

Alex pointed in the direction she came from. "walker!" she said loud enough for people to hear.

The group comes upon a Walker that is busy eating the carcass of a deer. When the Walker sees them, it starts to turn on them. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim, and Morales start to beat on it with their objects. Dale finishes it off by chopping its head off with an ax.

They hear branch snapping and footsteps. Daryl Dixon comes out of the forest and seems very upset that the Walker.

"Oh, Jesus. Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!". He kicks the carcass of the Walker

"Calm down, son. That's not helping".

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" said Daryl.

"I would not risk that," Daryl sighs "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do". Suddenly, the head of the Walker starts to move its teeth. Alex looks down and her eyes are as big as saucers.

Alex ran away screaming because of the walker's head. She is pulled from behind just as she almost tripped over a root. She looks behind her and sees it's Carol. " Everything is fine sweetheart. Nothing is going to get you. OK?".

"ok".

Carol takes Alex's hand as The group comes back at camp.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up". Carol takes Alex over to Ed that is over by the RV.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you".

"About what?" He asks.

"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta We're not sure if Merle is dead or not".

"He either is or he ain't!" Yelled Daryl.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," said rick stepping forward.

"Who are you?" asked Daryl.

"Rick grimes".

"Rick grimes, you got something you want to tell me?".

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there" replied Rick.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?! ".

"Yeah".

Daryl throws the skills but rick ducks out of the way and goes to attack him, but Rick shoves him off.

Alex jumps and clings into Ed's leg. Ed looks down and sees her on his leg but he looks back up at the fight.

Daryl pulls his knife out, but Shane is able to come up behind him and put him in a chokehold. "you'd best let me go!" yelled Daryl. "Nah, I think it's better if I don't".

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" said Rick while crouching down in front of him.

"Fine".

Shane lets him go.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others".

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it.I dropped it in a drain. I chained the door to the roof… So the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock. It's gotta count for something".

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him".

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Said Rick. " I'm going back," Said rick then walks away.

Later, Rick gets his police uniform on. He walks past Shane. "So that's it, huh? Are you just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?".

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody… Not you Shane…".

"Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?".

"Hey, choose your words more carefully," Said, Daryl. "No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon…The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst" Shane said. "What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst… me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being".

Rick turns to Glenn and Glenn is upset.

"You know the way. You've been there before… In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask… I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too".

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?".

"Four," Said T-dog.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?".

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" Said T-dog. "Five now," said Ed. He stands behind T-dog with an Ax over his shoulder.

"That's Five".

"That's not just Five. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp" Said Shane.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns."

"Right, the guns," said Glenn. "Wait. What guns?" Asked Ed.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up" Said Rick.

"Ammo?" Asked Glenn. "700 rounds, assorted".

" Good, now let's go," said Ed walking past when and to the vehicle. Rick, Glenn, and T-dog look at each other and shrug their shoulders. They get into the Vehicle and drove to Atlanta.

On the way there Rick looks over at Ed that is in the passenger seat. "hey, what's with you and Alex? She keeps close to Carol and you?". Ed turns to rick and chuckled. " I don't know but she reminds me of Sophie". Rick looks back to the road and asked, " Who is Sophie? If you don't mind me asking".

" She is... was my daughter. She got bit by one of the walkers and turned to one of them".

" Jesus, sorry about your daughter," Glenn Commented. "It's alright".

The rest of the ride there is quiet and peaceful. Ed leans his head back and takes a nap. It didn't last long because Daryl slaps him in the cheek and says, "Wake up! were here".

Ed rolls his eyes and sees the city is flooding with walkers.

"Holy, crap!".

Rick and the others find the way to the shop with help of Glenn. They back the truck against the gate where they escaped from the day prior. The gate opens and walks are seen and Daryl, Ed, and T-dog immediately attack them. Ed slips pass them as Rick kills the last walker. He jogs upstairs and finds the door padlocked. He takes his Ax and began to hit the chain as hard as he could. Just as the other came upstairs the chain hits the ground with a loud clank. Daryl pushes past Ed and steps onto the hot roof. Daryl look around but didn't see his brother but only his hand.

The handcuff that he was attached to is empty and there's Merle's hand lying on the ground. Ed felt sick to his stomach and goes to the edge of the roof. The group turns and sees Ed upchuck over the side of the building. Daryl turns back around to his brother's hand. He places a handkerchief on the ground and wrapped the hand in the fabric Then places the hand in Glenn's backpack.

They head downstairs and goes to the counter in the store where Glenn pulls out a marker and starts drawing on the glass.

He draws a map of the street on the ground and marks the tank and the bag of guns. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl and I will go".

"Why me?".

" Just deal with it! While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag".

"You got us elsewhere?" Asked Ed looking over Glenns shoulder. Glenn points down the street. "You, Rick, and T-Dog, right. You'll be in this alley here. I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterward, we'll all meet back here".

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" Asked Daryl.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?".

Ed looks at Glenn and says, " Great we are going to die!" he said walking out of the building. Rick follows after him.

Ed, Rick, and T-Dog arrive to see what happened. " Whoa whoa whoa. Stop it" said Rick.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat! They took Glenn. That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Yelled Daryl. "Get to the lab. Go" said Rick. Rick picks up the bag of guns and his hat and the group runs back into the building.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went," Rick asked.

"I ain't telling you nothing".

"this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me".

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault".

"They took Glenn. Could have taken merle too". Miguel chuckles. "Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog merle".

Daryl goes to kick at Miguel, but Ed holds him back.

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off" Said Ed.

Daryl pulls out Merle's hand.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?". Miguel is freaked out by the hand and starts to back away. "Start with the feet this time".

Rick holds Daryl back. "The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out".

The group arrives at the hideout.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know".

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know". They walk up to the building and the doors open up. Guillermo walks out. "You okay, little man?".

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal".

"Cops do that?".

"Not him. This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me" replied Miguel.

"We were hoping for a calm discussion," said rick.

Suddenly, everyone on the compound holds up a gun at the small group. " oh, fuck me running" Said Ed.

"lower your weapons!" yelled G.

Ed looks at rick and says, " I'm going outside so I don't fucking die. I'll meet you guys back at the truck". Ed slowly backs away to the door they came into. " what? you scared hillbilly?" yelled G. "no, I just don't want to leave someone behind" replied Ed. He exited the building quickly and made his way to the truck with no trouble.

Not too long after he got to the truck Rick, Glenn, and Daryl rush into the truck. As Rick starts the truck yelling is heard and gun fire. Bullets began to penitrate the truck everywhere. Ed, Glenn and Daryl hit the deck as rick drives off. "Everyone ok?," asked Rick. " yeah" the three of them said in sync.

The men get up and act like nothing happened. As they got closer to camp the vehical slowed down and stopped. "What are you doing rick?" asked Ed. " the gas is gone. We have to walk the rest of the way" replied rick. He grabbed the gun back and hopped out of the truck. The others followed shortly after.

~Survival camp~

The group enjoys dinner. Everyone is having a good time.

"Carol, may i have another juice?" asked Alex quitely. " of course. They are in the cooler by my car" replied Carol. Alex stood up and slowly walkes over to her car and to the cooler.

Alex hears footsteps and sees a figure of a person by the trees.

Her eyes are the size of sacers because she saw what it is. Alex heard a scream and that made the walker walk to Alex. "Carol!" yelled Alex. She ran for her life up the small hill. Carol spots her and runs to her. She picks her up and runs to where Shane is.

He grabs his shotgun and shoots several Walkers with it. Carol sets Alex down and picks up a crobar and crushes a Walker's skull with it. Alex hugs onto Carols leg. Something grabbed Alex from behind and she screamed, "let me go".

"Hey, it me!". Alex truns and sees its Ed. She clings onto Ed and he picks her up.

"Follow me!" Yelled Rick. Everyone backed away to the RV while shooting the walkers. Ed places Alex inside the RV and grabs a gun from Ricks bag. He starts firing at the walkers and Alex hides under the table while covering her ears. It took sevral minuets for the gun fireing to stop and once its over Alex uncovers her ears. She crawls from underneath the table and looks outside. She lookss around the camp that has several dead Walkers on the ground.


	3. Fight

Carol has stayed up all night with Alex because they couldn't sleep. Once daylight broke over the Horizon Carol got up and exited the tent with Alex. She brought Alex to her car and grabs some clothes for her.

They make their way to the lake to wash the blood and dirt off themselves. A few minutes later Carol pulls Alex from the lake and dries her off then gets her dressed.

Carol then takes her back up the hill and surprisingly she finds everyone awake very early than normal. They are moving around and dragging walker bodies to one spot. The group begins burning the walker bodies and burying the dead from their group. Ed swings at dead walkers' heads with a pickaxe as Glenn and T-Dog throw bodies in a fire. Once the dead bodies are done being burned they turn to Andrea. Rick comes forward and kneels next to her and hands her his gun. "It needs to be done". Andrea looks at rick then back to the gun. She takes the gun in her right hand and looks to her sister.

"I'm sorry for not ever being there. I always thought there'd be more time. I'm here now, Amy. I'm here. I love you". Just as she began to turn to a walker Andrea shoots Amy in the head. Then the group disposes of her body.

Ed spots Alex and carol and began walking to them but he stops when he sees Alex cowering behind Carol. He looks at the bloody weapon in his hand and drops it.

Hours later around noon the woman go down to the lake doing the laundry as Ed watches them. Ed keeps looking over to Alex every few minutes to make sure she hasn't gone into the water too far. "I do miss my Maytag" Said Carol as she scrubs some laundry to get blood from them.

"I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav. I Also miss my vibrator".

"Oh!" commented Jacqui.

The Women laugh which made Alex look up from the water.

"Me too" replied Carol.

Women laugh louder and it attracted Ed's attention. Ed got up from the tailgate and walked closer.

"What's so funny?" asked Ed.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed" Replied Andrea.

Ed looks to Carol and then Andrea spoke up, " do we have a problem?".

"Nothin' that concerns you," He turns to Carol, "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club".

Andrea Huffs and stands up then turns to face Ed.

"Ed, tell you what… you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here". She tosses a shirt at him and Ed throws it right back. "Ain't my job, missy" Ed replied.

"Andrea, don't," Said Carol while pulling on her pulls her arm free. "What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?".

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Tell you what… come on. Let's go".

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed".

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me. Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, All right? Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later".

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them".

Ed laughs and Shane notices all of this.

"Stay out of this. Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of the y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on".

"Carol, you don't have…".

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!".

Ed slaps Carol.

The girls start to protect Carol and they grab onto Ed. Ed is too big and none of them can prevent Ed from continuing to grab at Carol.

"Get off her!" All of them yelled while trying to protect Carol.

Shane runs over and grabs Ed. Alex saw everything and begins to tremble out of fright.

Ed demands that Shane gets off of him.

Shane throws Ed to the ground and starts beating him with his right fist. Ed tries to shield himself but Shane pulls his hands away from his face and beats him more. Ed loses the strength to fight back. Ed's face gets bloody as Shane continues to punch him. The girls watch in horror as Shane mutilates Ed's face. "Shane, stop! Just stop!" All the women yelled. Alex runs over and pulls on Shanes' arm. "Stop!" Alex Yelled.

"Get off me!" He yelled. Alex gets pushed back and she falls face first into a rock and blacks out.


	4. Shelter

~Hours later~

Alex wakes up on the couch in the RV. She hears moving. She slowly gets up and sees it's Rick. She moves away from his as he gets closer. Rick holds out at ice pack " here, put this on your nose. It will help a lot". Alex puts the ice pack on her nose put she throws it because once it touched her nose it hurt badly. She notices the RV is moving. "where are we going?" she asked. " We are going to the CDC" Rick replied while grabbing her ice pack she threw. Alex looks at him with a puzzled look. "It's the Center for Disease Control. We need to see if they have a cure".

Alex nods and takes the ice pack from him. She gently places the pack on her nose and the pain went away slowly.

"Is Ed and Carol ok?" She asked. "They are fine but Ed got beat pretty bad".

Alex just nods again.

After not so long the RV stops and the men takes out the guy named Jim. After a few minutes, Rick gets back inside the RV and it drives off without the man they took out.

They arrive outside the compound not long after.

Alex looks out the window out of curiosity but she regrets it immediately. Surrounding the building are a lot of corpses. The group's Vehicles quietly approaches the building.

~All right, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together~ Said Shane over the radio.

Rick and the other men get out of the RV. Alex clings into Rick for dear life not wanting to let go.

"Keep moving. Come on" Said Rick.

The rest of the group keeps up quickly but quietly as possible while trying to not attract any walkers that are possibly nearby.

They reach the building which is locked and shuttered.

"Keep it together. Come on". Shane pounds on the door.

"There's nobody here" Yelled Ed.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Replied Rick.

"Walkers!" yelled Daryl.

Rick turns around and sees walkers coming towards them.

Daryl shoots the walker in the head.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Dary Yelled and pointed his bow at Shane.

"He made a call," Said Shane.

"It was the wrong damn call!".

"Where are we gonna go? " commented Jacqui.

"We can't be here, this close to the city after dark" Added Lori.

"Fort Benning, Rick… Still an option" said Shane.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles" Andrea Said.

"125. I checked the map" Commented Glenn.

"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please. Rick" Shane pleaded.

They begin to turn to walk away but Alex catches sight of the security camera's movement.

" Wait!" Yelled Alex.

Everyone stopped and looks at her.

"The camera… it moved".

"You imagined it, kid," Said Shane.

" No, I didn't!".

"Alex, it is dead. It's an automated device. It's geared, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on. Just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead".

" I seen the cameras move to" Added Rick.

He Handed Alex to Daryl and slams on the shutters.

Alex gives Daryl a weird look. "what?" Asked Daryl.

She glared at him and stuck her tongue out at him.

He stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled. He smiles but it faded when Rick started to bang on the door again.

"Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left.

"Rick. There's nobody here" Lori yelled.

"We have nowhere else to go". Rick pounds on the door.

"Keep your eyes open. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please! Please help us. You're killing us!". The group is just about to leave when the door to the CDC opens and they are blinded by the bright light.

The group is just outside the C.D.C. still standing in the light from the open doorway.

"Daryl, you cover the back" Said Rick as he entered the building with weapons raised.

"Hello?" asked Rick.

"Close those doors. Watch for walkers" Said Dale.

The group enters and looks around at the lobby. It's Elevator. The sound of a gun cocking is heard and they look and see a man with a rifle pointing at them.

"Anybody infected?" The man asked.

"One of our group was. She didn't make it" Replied Andrea

"Why are you here? What do you want?".

"A chance. Please" said Carol stepping forward.

"That's asking an awful lot these days".

"We know," Carol said.

The man looks at everyone and sighs.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission".

"We can do that" Rick replied.

The man lowers his weapon and says, " You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed".

The group quickly brings in bags of clothes and some food.

They all run through the doors and follow Jenner into an elevator.

"VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here".

They hear Rattles, clangs, and beeping then it's silent.

"Rick Grimes".

He puts his hand out for Him to shake. The man shakes his hand. "Dr. Edwin Jenner".

The Elevator stops and shakes a bit. Alex clung onto Daryl tighter. They enter the large darkened space Jenner had been in before.

"VI, bring up the lights in the big room," The Docter said.

Alex closes her eyes when the lights turn on.

"Welcome to Zone 5".

Everyone gets their blood drawn but Ed, Alex, and Andrea are left.

"Alright kid, hop up on the table asked the Docter.

Alex didn't hear him. All she could do is focus on the needle in his hand. She screams and rushes out of the room but, before she could get too far Ed catches her and brings her back.

"No! put me down!" Alex yelled.

Alex kicks and screams but he didn't put her down.

"Holy shit! what happened to you two?" Asked the Docter.

He doctor sees Eds bruised face and bloodshot eye. He then looks at Alex and gets a better view of her face. Her nose is bruised and she has two black eyes.

"Um, not important," said Ed as he places Alex on the Table.

Jenner takes Alex's blood for a sample, Then Eds next, then Andreas last.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever" Andrea commented.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough" The doctor replies, "All done".

As she stands Andrea starts to black out. Jacqui catches her.

"Are you okay?" The doctor asked.

"She hasn't eaten a decent meal in days. None of us have" Jacqui said.

Almost an hour later everyone is seated at a table and The doctor brings in everyone food.

" Hows the food?" the doctor asked.

"Fine" Lori replied.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France" Dale said.

"Well, when Carl and Alex are in Italy or France, they can have some then".

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on" Said Rick.

Dale pours Alex and Carl a small glass of wine.

He then hands Carl a glass with half an inch of wine in it.

Daryl hands Alex her glass.

"There you are, young lady and lad".

Everyone watches Alex and Carl.

Alex and Carl look at each other than their glasses.

Carl takes a drink of his first.

"Eww," said carl while setting the glass down.

All the Adults laugh from his reacting than they bloodshot to Alex. She takes a small sip of her drink then drinks the whole thing and sets the glass down on the table.

Everyone laughs there ass off and a few of than adults fall from their chair and continue to laugh.

People start to calm down and Ed looks at Alex and pats her head. "That's my girl".

"How can you drink that? it tastes nasty!" Carl asked Alex.

She just shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there if you can't drink that stuff, but Not you, Glenn".

"What?" Asked Glenn while looking at Daryl.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get".

They finish their food and Jenner shows them the rest of the living area.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are costs in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water".

They pass rooms the doctor assigned them.

" Rick and Lori you will in room A1,

Daryl, and Dale room A2,

Andrea and T-dog, room A3,

Carol and Ed, room A4,

Alex and Carl, you will get A10, and finally Shane, you will get room A5".

"Wait, why do the kids get A10? is it the biggest or something?" Asked Daryl.

"yes, plus they have separate bedrooms and bathroom but on living room".

"Yes!" cheered the kids.

Carl picks up Alex and runs to their room.

As Carl enters the room he throws Alex onto the couch and runs to the nearest bedroom. Alex giggles from being thrown on the couch. She then goes to the room on the far right and opens the door. She sees her room is mostly gray and light blue.

Alex hears the living room door open and close. She pops her head out and sees Ed and Carol with a bag of clothes. "Here sweetheart. The doctor had kids clothes from the people that were here prior and he thought you would like them" said Carol. Alex walks up to Carol and takes the bag from then and bolt to the room. They turn to leave but Alex runs back and hugs Ed and Carol. "Thank you!" She said. She kissed their cheeks and ran back into her room. Alex goes to the bathroom and turns on the bath.

A half hour later she gets out of the shower and gets dressed in a pair of car pajama pants and a black t-shirt. Alex goes around the building and finds Carol and Lori inside a small library.

"Any good books?" Asked Lori.

"Uh-huh. Enough to keep us busy for years. All right. Come on, Alex, it's bed time. Come on, This is the first night we might actually get some real sleep".

Before Alex could turn around Ed come out of nowhere and places her on his shoulders. Alex laughs with joy. Before he would exit the room Alex spoke up.

"Wait, I wanted someone to read to me".

"ok". Ed goes over the bookshelf and picks out a kids book.

"This good?" he asked.

Alex nods.

He takes her to her room and sits on the couch with her then opens the book to a story he knows very well .

One day, Little Red Riding Hood's mother said to her, "Take this basket of goodies to your grandma's cottage, but don't talk to strangers on the way!" Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad Wolf who asked, "Where are you going, little girl?" "To my grandma's, Mr. Wolf!" she answered.

The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother's cottage much before Little Red Riding Hood and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma's clothes and lay on her bed, waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.

When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma's bedside. "My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!" she said in surprise. "All the better to see you with, my dear!" replied the wolf. "My! What big ears you have, Grandma!" said Little Red Riding Hood. "All the better to hear you with, my dear!" said the wolf. "What big teeth you have, Grandma!" said Little Red Riding Hood.

"All the better to eat you with!" growled the wolf pouncing on her. Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard. Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learned her lesson and never spoke to strangers ever again.

Once he is done with the story he got tired. Ed laid his head back against the arm of the couch and fell asleep. Alex snuggled against his chest as they sleep.


	5. Hide

the next morning Ed and Alex are awakened by people yelling and screaming. He gets up and carries Alex to the door but it doesn't open. Suddenly, someone on the other side of the door is trying to open it.

"Get them doors open!" someone yelled.

"Come on!".

"It doesn't work!".

"Whats going on?" Yelled Ed.

"Ed, get Alex and you out of there. The building is going to Explode!" Yelled Carol from the other side of the door.

"Wait, what!".

"Carol, come on! They have to find their own way out!".

"But, I can't leave them. You have less than two minutes. Please, get out of there!" She said.

The banging stopped and so did the yelling.

Rick and T-dog dragged Carol from the doors.

"Ed, what's going on?" Asked Alex.

"um, nothing. Don't worry, I will get us out of here".

Ed looks around and sees a medium sized window. He sets Alex down and runs to her room then gets a bag ready quickly. Ed takes a shirt from her bag and wraps it around his hand. He begins to punch the window and after the sixth hit, the window shatters. "Come here," said Ed. She walks over to him and He picks her up. He carefully goes through the window without hurting Alex but her leg gets a small cut. But, it seems like it didn't bother her.

Once outside Ed quickly runs from the building with Alex. Suddenly, they are surrounded by walkers so, Alex clings onto Ed more as he runs past them. Once they reach a block away he stops when The building burst into flames. Alex clung into Ed tighter when pieces of the building fly over her head. He looks around until he finds a pharmacy. He runs to it quickly and looks around carefully for walkers. Once he is finished searching Ed sets Alex down and pushes shelves to barricade the door and make sure the window grates are closed so walkers or people don't come inside. Once it's done he looks over to Alex and sees her bloody leg.

"oh, crap".

He goes and looks around the Pharmacy and found an ACE bandage but nothing to clean it it's. "I'm going to put this on your leg, ok?".

"ok" she replied.

Once he is done putting the bandage on her leg he got up and began to look around for stuff that could be useful. He could only find ointment, a few candy bars, and a huge locked door.

He looks around for a key but there is nothing. Ed hears banging. He puts his ear to the metal door and hears it's coming from the inside of that room. Ed goes to the pharmacy and puts his hand on the counter then he feels what he has been looking for. He goes back to the door and puts the key in the hole and turns it. The door creaked and groaned as he pulled the door open. In the room are a few boxes and three backpacks with stuff around it. "Ed, where are you!" Yelled Alex.

"I'm here, just wait there".

"ok".

Ed slides off the backpack and sets it down by the door. He grabs a broom and snaps it in half and walks into the room. Once inside he smells something awful. He covers his nose with his shirt but it doesn't help. Ed almost slips on something. He managed to get his balance back and looks down. The floor has a blood trail. He backs away and goes over to the two bags that he saw while entering the room. He picks them up and slides them out of the room. He looks over the far right corner and sees a first aid kit on a shelf by a tv. Ed quickly grabs it and walks out of the room. Before he exits the room he notices two lumps under a bloody sleeping bag but he quickly got out of the room and locks the door behind him.

"Alex, come here".

Alex comes stumbling over to Ed and sees the bags.

"I found these in the backroom. They might have some useful things inside them".

Ed begins looking through the bags and he finds a thin blanket, a pair of sunglasses, crowbar, toilet paper, rope, bottles of water, MREs, and a bunch of men's clothes.

Ed smirked when he sees all this. He reaches for the clothes and goes to a far corner of the building and out of view of Alex. He quickly changes into a grey long sleeve T-shirt, blue jeans and a hoodie. He looks over to the window and sees it's getting pretty dark so he walks back to Alex and takes her behind the counter and lays the thin blanket down and sets her on the blanket. He goes to the other end of the counter and leans back against it then, slowly falling asleep.

Hours later

Suddenly, Alex bolts awake when she hears people running nearby. " Dad, there is a pharmacy. Let's get inside".

Alex panicked and crawls over to Ed and shakes him awake.

"Ed, there are people outside".

"There just walkers Alex, go back to sleep," Ed said.

Alex begins pulling at his arm to get up.

"No, get up!".

Ed finally gets up and stretches. He then hears people outside trying to get in. "Dame, the doors are shut pretty tight".

"Oh, shit," Ed said.

He rushed to the shelf and begins to push them harder against the doors. "guys I think people are inside" Said women.

"I heard someone talking".

Ed sees Alex cover her ears as the people begin to bang into the doors. A gunfire rings out through the pharmacy. Ed stubbed back while holding his arm. The people enter the building with their guns raised at Ed.

"don't move!" said the older man. Ed stands still with his one good arm raised. "why were you barricading the door?" asked women with shoulder length brown hair. Ed keeps quiet.

"Well, going to say something" Yelled the older man again. The women with brown hair point the gun at him again but then lowers it when Alex rushes over to Ed. Alex clings onto his legs for dear life. "oh, well I guess the child explains why you did that".

The older man takes the gun from the brown haired women and points it back, at Ed. "I don't care if he does have a kid with him. We are taking this spot!".

"Larry, stop" Yelled women in a white button up shirt.

"Why?".

"Because he is just protecting his daughter".

As they continue to bicker among themselves Ed walks over to a nearby wall and sits against it. "Hey, Alex. Can you get the first aid kit?". She nods and gets the kit then comes back quickly. He rolls up the sleeve of the hoodie and shirt as Alex opens it and finds a brown bottle and ACE bandages. Ed grabs the bottle and his hand begins to shake as he pours the liquid into his arm. He holds back screams as it would attract walkers. "Here, let me," said the women with a white button up shirt. She grabs the bottle from his hand. She then takes her belt off and holds it against his mouth. Ed bites onto the belt hard has the women cleans his wound.

Eds eyes begin to shut slowly, then he passes out from the pain. Alex looks at Ed then the women cleaning his wounds. She turns to Alex and with a smile she says, "he will be fine once he wakes up".

Alex nods and goes back to her corner behind the counter. She opens one of the bags and just as she reached inside the bag is snatched away from her. "What are you hiding?".

"That's mine". The man pushed Alex down when she tried to get her bag bag. "Finally, some food". The older man digging into a MRE.

"Larry, what the hell. Done push a child and don't take her food". The women that helped Ed grabs Alex's bag out of the mans hands and gives it back to her.

"Hi, I'm Carley".

"Alex".

Carley smiles at Alex as they shake hands. "Carley, get away from that brat. She might have the virus" said Larry.

"She... She isn't a brat and doesn't h... Have the virus" said Ed as he woke up. Ed gets up slowly and stumbles over to Alex. He sits by her wraps the blanket around her. "Sleep sweetheart". Alex leans against him and closes her eyes. Ed looks at the others and keeps an eye on them while Alex gets some rest.


	6. Walkers

Alex wakes up to a motorcycle being started. She notices she is outside with a blanket wrapped around her. "Ed!" She shrieked. Ed comes tumbling over a log and he picks her up. "I'm right here. Not going anywhere". Ed brings Alex over to the motorcycle and sets her down on it. He takes off his jacket and shirt to rewrap his shoulder quickly. Once done he gets redressed and hops on the motorcycle behind Alex.

"Here, put this on", Alex takes the helmet from Ed and puts it on. Once on she scrunched up her nose and looks at Ed, "I know it smells but it will protect your head if we fall off". Ed puts on his own helmet and they drive off. "Where are we going? ", Alex asked while hanging onto Eds arms. "Interstate 85". Alex nods looks forward. She looks around and sees buildings pass by quickly.

 **Ricks group**

Carol is sitting behind the drivers seat of her car while someone drives. She looks out her window. She hears a small yelp and whimper. She looks around the car till she sees a pair of eyes under the seat. Carol slowly takes the puppy from under the seat and pets him. "Hey, sweetheart". Rick looks in the rearview mirror and sees Carol holding Alex's puppy. "Where did he come from? I haven't seen him in a while", Rick says. "Someone must have grabbed him awhile go and forgot we have him", Carol responded. "Can I hold him? ". Carol looks at Carl and smiles, "sure".

Carl takes the puppy in his arms and pets him till he closes his eyes and rests his head on Carls arm. Rick smiles and says, "you know this reminds me of when we were going to the grand canyon". "Yeah, but we never made it because Carl got sick".  
"I never knew a baby could throw up so much! ", laughed Rick. Carol smiles at the through of taking a family trip but her smile faded when she remembers Sofia.

"Hey, you alright Carol?", Rick asked. Carol looks at Rick and nods, "Yeah, I'm fine". Carl hears a motorcycle engine so he turns around in his seat and sees a motorcycle from afar. "Hey, mom and Dad. There is a motorcycle". Lori and Rick looks behind them and see it too. Rick reaches for the waki taki but right as he grabs it, "Rick, do you see the bike that's approaching?". "Yeah,what should we do?", he responds. "Wait, they might be heading the same direction as us".

 **2 hours later**

The group comes to a stop when a cluster of cars block the highway. The convoy has come upon a traffic problem with hundreds of abandoned vehicles, filled with rotting corpses, blocking the roads. On his brother's motorcycle, Daryl leads them through a snaked out path that was likely carved through by other survivors. Glenn nervously points out a highway overpass a few miles back, but Dale dismisses it. "We can't spare the fuel," he tells him.

The group nervously crawls through the wreckage, with no way to know what sort of dangers lurk within. The situation worsens when the RV's radiator hose breaks down. This forces the group to stop altogether - their cars are trapped.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane points out, and the group realizes that they can scavenge the vehicles along the highway for supplies. "We could siphon more fuel from these cars, for a start,". "Maybe some water?" Carol asks. Lori is quick to point out that this traffic snarl is a graveyard. "I don't know how I feel about this," she says slowly. Silently, they agree the supplies are very important, and Shane announces, "Gather what you can, y'all."

Dale enlists Glenn with fixing the radiator hose. "Sometimes the points get corroded," he says, handing him the proper screwdriver. "Radiator hose clamp is always a flat-head," he tells takes watch with a rifle behind the RV while Dale climbs to his post on the roof. Andrea heads back inside the RV to try to put together Shane's gun after half-heartedly searching through a few cars.

Lori, Carol, and Carl look through cars further up the highway. Carol finds and holds up some clean clothes to her chest and smiles at a still-unnerved Lori, "Ed never let me wear nice things like this," she states.

T-Dog and Daryl work together to siphon fuel. Shane finds a delivery van with several canisters of fresh water still inside. Glenn takes notice of this and hollers joyfully. The group looks behind them as a motorcycle comes to a stop. Daryl comes to the back of the RV and points his cross bow at the pair. Rick does the same as he stands behind the Rv. Ed takes off his full face helmet and looks up to Daryl, "Put that dame thing away ya hillbilly". Daryl and Rick lowers there weapons when they see its Ed. Alex takes off her helmet and Smiles up at Rick and Daryl. She gets off the bike and runs to Rick and they hug. "hey, sweetheart. Its good to know your safe".

Dale and Daryl caught sight of a walker heading towards them through the traffic snarl. Daryl slowly crawls to the back of the RV and looks down towards the three people, "Rick, we have a problem up front". Rick looks in front of the RV and raises his gun to shoot, but his focus shifts to a second walker coming up behind the first. By the time he has both square in his sights, there's a third - but he quickly realizes there are a lot more than that. He takes Alex in him arms and motions Ed to follow but get low. Rick runs forward, in a forced whisper telling Lori, Carl to get under the cars. On her way down, Lori grabs Carol. They watch together in Shock as Ed gets under a car in front of them. Carol and Ed look at each other but looks away to see Alex under a car next to Ed.

Dale lies flat on the roof of the RV as a passes through the wreckage. Shane spots the horde and grabs Glenn, throwing them both beneath a nearby truck.

Andrea, unbeknownst of the horde of walkers passing through, is in the RV trying but failing to put the gun back together. She finally sees the movement of walkers outside the RV. Stunned by the walkers outside the window, she cowers to the floor.

As T-Dog is running to hide from the walkers, he cuts his arm on a broken car frame. An artery breaks, and his arm starts spilling huge amounts of blood, rendering him almost completely helpless. Walkers notice and approach him. He runs behind a car, but more are coming for him.

Underneath a car further up the highway, Rick is calmly keeping Carl, Sophia, Lori, and Carol in his sights as the herd grabs the pieces of Shane's gun and scrambles in to the bathroom of the RV when a stray walker wanders through the open RV door. She sits silently trying to assemble the gun while the walker tries to follow her scent but comes up empty. He turns back and is about to exit the RV when a piece of the gun in the bathroom clatters to the floor, making a loud noise. The noise alerts the walker to Andrea's location. She presses her feet to the door while the walker continues to press in violently.

She screams, and Dale looks through the screened sunroof. She glares at him - this was exactly the sort of end she was hoping to avoid at the CDC - and he grabs a screwdriver from his pocket. He slices open the screen and throws the weapon down to her. The walker charges at her inside the bathroom, and she leans forward, pushing the walker to the wall and stabbing the walker repeatedly through the eye with the screwdriver until it stops moving. She sobs, covered in the walker's blood, catching her breath.

T-Dog is losing blood fast - his entire shirt, white just minutes earlier, is now a deep shade of red. As walkers descend on him, Daryl emerges from behind a car, grabbing corpses from the abandoned cars and covering him and T-Dog, camouflaging their smell. The group is almost safe when a few stragglers find Alex hiding underneath the car. Scared, she flees down a ditch to the nearby woods. Rick sees her and quickly gets from under his hiding spot to run after her. Ed gets up and catches Carol who tried to run after Alex. Ed and Lori hold back Carol and covers her mouth to keep her from running after them in to the woods or attracting more walkers.

Chased by two walkers, Alex stumbles, but Rick gets to her before they do. "Shoot them!" She cries, grabbing for Rick's gun. He refuses as he doesn't want to risk shooting them and drawing even more walkers in to the woods. Instead, he grabs Alex and takes her under a creek bed. He tells her he's going to draw the walkers away. "If I don't come back, run back to the highway. Keep the sun on your left shoulder," he tells her before chasing after the walkers.

Using a rock, he's able to kill the walkers, hand-to-hand one at a time. When he returns to the creek bed, Alex has vanished. He brings back Daryl, an expert tracker, Shane, and Glenn to the creek bed to search for her. Shane looks at Rick and asks" Did Alex really understand your directions". "She understood me fine," Rick responds firmly, and Shane offers an assured "We're gonna find her. She's gonna be tuckered out hiding in the bush somewhere."

Daryl leads them on Alex's trail. He states that she was headed back to the highway just fine before she veered off in another direction.

While Rick and Daryl continue to search through the forest for Alex, Shane and Glenn return to the traffic snarl to try to keep peace in the group and occupy them with jobs at the abandoned vehicles. Getting the road cleared means they can turn the RV around once it's repaired, and double back to the bypass Glenn flagged on the map, they explain, to get around the snarl now that they had fuel. "Can't be soon enough for me," Andrea says, "I'm still freaked out about that herd that passed us - or whatever you'd call it." Glenn's just as freaked out by the huge crowd of walkers traveling together. "...that sounds about right," Shane agrees. "Like the night camp got attacked. Just a wandering pack, only fewer."

Carol looks at the men and say," why aren't you looking for her?". Lori assures her that they wouldn't leave her behind.

Carl finds a Gerber Gear bag on the lap of a rotting corpse in a pick-up truck, and he excitedly shows them to Shane, who dismisses him without thought while he works on a new car. Lori notices this and tells Shane not to take things out on Carl. He snaps back",I'm just trying to do what you told me to do, stay away from him".

Carl runs off to give the knives to Dale.

Daryl picks up Alex's trail again and leads Rick through the forest. They kill a walker, and Rick examines it for skin under the fingernails and in its teeth. He finds flesh and begins to cut him open - but Daryl, the more experienced hunter of the two, steps in. "I'll do it," he says, pulling out his knife. Comparing it to Rick's, he adds smugly, "Mine's sharper." Daryl guts the walker as Rick tries to keep down what little food he's had. Daryl rips open the walker's stomach only to find that he's eaten a woodchuck.

Andrea comforts Carol as Alex hasn't returned to the highway and the sun is setting. After doing so, he asks Dale for her gun. Dale refuses to give the gun to Andrea out of fear for her safety, and Shane backs him up. "The less guns floating around camp, the better," he says. "Y'all need proper training, but until that time I think it's best if Dale keeps 'em all accounted for." Andrea walks off annoyed as Glenn spots Rick and Daryl, who've returned without Alex.

Carol is beside herself. "You didn't find anything?" she cries. Rick explains her trail went cold. "I don't want Alex to spending the night alone in the woods", Daryl steps forward. "Hunting in the dark's no good," he tells her, and Rick promises Carol that they will pick up the search tomorrow and make an organized effort at first light. Carol spots blood on Daryl's pants, and as she panics, they admit they gutted a walker to make sure it didn't get Alex. Carol can't look at Rick and she walks away. The rest of the group is quiet amid the confrontation.

Alex looks around frantically and tries to look for any sign of the group but she doesn't see anyone or anything. She digs in her back pack and finds a blue walkie talkie. She turns the nob on top to see if she can hear anyone.  
But, she only hears static so she turns it off.  
Alex looks up to a large tree and begins to climb it. Once she reaches half way she stops and leans against the trunk and looks below for any sign of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Rick arms the group and Andrea, again, demands her gun back, only to have her request dismissed by the others out of fear she'll use it to kill herself.

Carl announces to his parents that he's joining the search for Alex, and finds an ally in Dale who reasons, "He has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands."

Andrea confronts Dale about her gun in front of the others, and angrily tells him that he took away her only chance to die peacefully. She states that he robbed her of her choice by forcing her to save his life. He admits he expected gratitude, but she scoffs and finishes by telling him, "I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I'm sure as hell not your problem."

The survivors leave Dale and T-Dog, whose arm has been bandaged, at the RV, and head out to search the forest for Sophia.

As the day wears on, the group is tired and worn from a long and fruitless search. They come upon a campsite where a man "opted out," and nothing of value except a gun. Carl is again rebuffed in an attempt to talk to Shane, and he tells his mother he thinks Shane's mad at him. "No, honey, I promise you. He's just worried about Sophie that's all." she tells him.

At the RV, Dale is taking watch with his binoculars, and T-Dog asks why he's not fixing the radiator hose so they can get out of there if/when the group comes back with Alex. Dale states that he fixed the hose the day before, but that he's trying to keep the group united in the search for Alex. He adds, "If they know we're mobile, they'll want to mobilize."

The group is overjoyed when they hear the sounds of church bells in the woods. They have that Alex is setting them off. They run towards the noise and find a small church, but Shane insists it's the wrong one, because it doesn't have a steeple.

They head inside anyway - Rick, Shane, and Daryl killing walkers, but they find no trace of her. Shane continues insisting it's the wrong church, when the bells ring again. They run outside, and find the automated bell timer around the side of the building.

Glenn unhooks the timer in frustration as Carol announces she's going back inside the church for a while. Carl, Rick, Ed, and Glenn join her inside, while Andrea takes a rest outside in the shade. She overhears Lori and Shane talking about his plans to leave, and hears Lori tell Shane she thinks he's making the right choice to go.

Outside the church, Andrea asks Shane to take her with him when he leaves, pointing out that the two of them don't belong in the group. He rebuffs her, but she asks him to consider it.

With daylight fading, the others decide to head back to the RV, but Rick isn't ready to give up the search for Alex. Reluctantly, Shane agrees to stay behind. Carl, too, insists on staying with them. "She's my friend," he says, and Lori agrees to let him stay with his dad.

Rick tries to give Lori his gun, but she won't leave him unarmed, so Daryl hands her the gun he grabbed off the man in the tent that afternoon. Andrea rolls her eyes visibly. 

Before they head back into the woods, Rick heads alone inside the church. "I guess you already know I'm not much of a believer," he says, talking to a crucifix of Jesus though he has little to no faith in God left. "Thing is, I could use a little something to help keep us going. Some kinda acknowledgment, some indication I'm doing the right thing." Getting up to leave, he turns back around and says desperately, "Hey look, I don't need all the answers. Just a sign! Any sign'll do."

On their way back to the highway, Carol expresses frustration that their search turned up no new leads on Alex, and Daryl, too, doesn't like that the group has been further split up. Andrea chooses the moment to verbally attack Lori for carrying a gun when she's been denied one for two days. Angered, Lori hands it to her without a second thought. "You want it? I'm sick of the looks you're all givin' me," she says. She tells them to stop blaming Rick for what happened to Alex because no one else ran after her like he did. She tells them she's tired of them not trusting her family, and that any of them are free to leave any time they want.

Feeling guilty, Andrea hands back the gun and the group continues back to the highway.

Meanwhile, as Rick, Shane, and Carl search the woods, they come upon Alex's backpack under a tree. Carl looks up into the tree and sees Alex. "Dad, look". Rick and Shane look up and sees Alex who is hanging off the branch. Rick hands his gun to Shane and begins to ascend into the tree. Rick shacks Alex lightly and she looks up and sees its Rick. She hugs him and Rick climbs down the tree with Alex in his arms. Rick sets Alex down and looks at her arms, legs and shoulder. No bites. Rick sighed in relief. "Lets go back. The group is worried sick". Rick hears sticks crunching and leaves crumbing. "Get behind me". Carl and Alex get behind Rick who has his gun ready.

A buck stopped in a clearing at turns his head to the group. Shane raises his gun to shoot it, but Rick holds him back as a curious Alex slowly moves closer to the buck. Smiling, she turns back to Rick, Carl and Shane, who watch peacefully, as the deer stands tall, staring back at Alex. They don't move. Shane grins. Just as Alex reached out to pet the deer a sound rang out. Suddenly, a gunshot, and as the deer falls, Alex too goes down, blood seeping from her chest.

Rick looks in disbelief. He runs to Alex and stops when a man with a gun comes from vegetation. Rick and Shane hold up their guns and the man holds up his hands. "You shot her!", Cried rick. "I didn't mean to. I was aiming for the buck". Shane cocked his gun and aims it at the man. "Wait, I know someone who can help her. Its not that far". Rick scoops Alex into his arms and follows the man with Shane and Carl right behind.


End file.
